A New Clearing. 



CHAPTER X. 



Heroes of Exploration. 



Tragic Stories— Flinders and Bass — Adventures in a Small Boat — Discoveries — Disappearance of 

 Bass — Death of Flinders — Eyre's Journey — Ludwig Leichardt — Disappearance of his Party — 

 Theory of his Fate — The Kennedy Catastrophe — The Burke and Wills Expedition— Across the 

 Continent — The Deserted Depot — Slow Death by Starvation— Later Expeditions. 



THE story of Australian exploration is for the most part of a tragic 

 character. Great geographical results have been achieved, but the 

 price has been paid in great sacrifices. The records of success are saddened 

 by many episodes of disaster and of death. 



The tale of heroism and suffering begins with Bass and Flinders, two 

 young men who have left their names writ large upon the map for ever. 

 They went out in 1795 with the second Governor of New South Wales, 

 Bass as surgeon of the ship Reliance, and Flinders as midshipman. The two 

 were soon friends ; they had an equal love of adventure, and the new 

 circumstances in which they were placed fired their ardent imagination with 

 the hope of discoveries that should benefit mankind, if not bring reputation 

 to themselves. Never did enthusiasts set to work with more scanty material. 

 With a little boat eight feet long, and a boy to help, they cleared Sydney 

 Heads, and faced the unknown Southern Ocean, and mapped out a section of 

 the Australian coast. They used to row or sail as far as they could in the 



